Black Sheep

There are many words to describe "Black Sheep", and most of them begin with "un" - as in unsophisticated, uninspired, unoriginal. Still, it has some scattershot laughs. Gary Busey, for example, is brilliantly cast as a paranoid Vietnam veteran and comes through with the funniest performance by far. Chris Farley has barely one or two mildly funny moments in the entire film, but he does achieve some touching ones, and his honest efforts to amuse his audience in any way he can at least earn your respect. (**)

Black Sheep is one of the two films in which Chris Farley stars alongside the constant sarcasm of David Spade (the other being Tommy Boy, which is almost as funny), and the results are childish but endlessly amusing. Farley plays Mike Donnelly, the younger and nuttier brother of Al Donnelly, who is campaigning to be governor of Washington. Mike's seemingly constant screw-ups, which cause serious havoc during his brother's campaign, provide for the majority of the comedy in the film. There can be no mistake that this is entirely slapstick comedy, but it succeeds very well because Farley can pull it off so well. The hopelessly geeky Spade balances out Farley's hyper-activity with his collected but nerdy performance, leaving us with an odd couple that could be called a slightly less mature version of that of the late Walter Matthou and the later Jack Lemmon (a moment of silence for Matthou, Lemmon, and Farley, would be in order about now…).

It is strange that such an immature film could deal so extensively with a relatively serious subject as politics and still manage to keep the slapstick successful, especially since there are moments of real emotion in the film. Gary Busey appears in a small but very effective and amusing role as Sgt. Drake Savage, a military-minded guy who ultimately seems to have a heart of gold. The interactions between him and Spade are some of the funniest moments in the film, along with the constant humor that seems to always be emanating from Farley. The cabin scene with Mike and Steve (Spade) is especially amusing ("I got dibs on top bunk!").

I am not going to attempt to say that Black Sheep is a truly intellectual film, nor is there anything particularly amazing about the script or direction, but the comedy is excellent, there can be no mistake about that. I mean, Tommy Boy and other movies, like Major Payne, are no cerebral workouts either, but the comedy is there. That's the reason to watch these movies, and to their credit, you can tell that just by looking at the cover. You probably won't learn anything or see the portrayal of many serious issues in a movie like Black Sheep, but you will laugh heartily and you will remember it for that.

Hmm, I remember watching this movie a while back...and I must say it is STILL one of the few movies I ever just refused to finish...I looked at the clock and there was half an hour left and I was not gonna make it...think I stopped it when they were near some trailer...I can remember ONE good scene in it..where Farley says "Kill Whitey!!"..that was funny..but was this movie up to Tommy Boy standards?? Oh god no...not even CLOSE...and you thought Tommy Boy had little plot?? Look at THIS movie, it doesn't even have one, I refuse to believe it does...I was just shaking my head the whole time, because I had actually heard this movie was FUNNY...imagine my surprise...the whole fiasco in the cabin?? Not amusing...more or less stupid...I'll go with the more option there...anyways if anybody out there hasn't seen this yet...save yourself an hour and a half and don't bother.

Reviews of this film were less than favourable but since I enjoyed the Farley/Spade partnership so much in Tommy Boy I thought I would check this one out as well.

Farley does alot of falling over and generally self abuse in this one, for instance when he tumbles down a mountain side and then gets up and says "What was that all about?".

The bit where the bunk bed collapses on top of Spade during the hail storm and the "Power to the People" speech at the rock concert are hilarious.

Most viewed this film as inane and childish - one reviewer I distinctly remember said that he would rather have Des O'Connor sing him the phone book than watch this again - but I found myself laughing many times.

Very well done. I enjoyed this movie a lot. Some parts could have been done better but overall I enjoyed it and enjoy watching it anytime I can. Must see for all of those that can just lay back and have fun.